Micromechanical modeling of stress-induced phase transformations. Part 1. Thermodynamics and kinetics of coupled interface propagation and reorientation

The universal (i.e. independent of the constitutive equations) thermodynamic driving force for coherent interface reorientation during first-order phase transformations in solids is derived for small and finite strains. The derivation is performed for a representative volume with plane interfaces, homogeneous stresses and strains in phases and macroscopically homogeneous boundary conditions. Dissipation function for coupled interface (or multiple parallel interfaces) reorientation and propagation is derived for combined athermal and drag interface friction. The relation between the rates of single and multiple interface reorientation and propagation and the corresponding driving forces are derived using extremum principles of irreversible thermodynamics. They are used to derive complete system of equations for evolution of martensitic microstructure (consisting of austenite and a fine mixture of two martensitic variants) in a representative volume under complex thermomechanical loading. Viscous dissipation at the interface level introduces size dependence in the kinetic equation for the rate of volume fraction. General relationships for a representative volume with moving interfaces under piece-wise homogeneous boundary conditions are derived. It was found that the driving force for interface reorientation appears when macroscopically homogeneous stress or strain are prescribed, which corresponds to experiments. Boundary conditions are satisfied in an averaged way. In Part 2 of the paper [Levitas, V.I., Ozsoy, I.B., 2008. Micromechanical modeling of stress-induced phase transformations. Part 2. Computational algorithms and examples. Int. J. Plasticity (2008)], the developed theory is applied to the numerical modeling of the evolution of martensitic microstructure under three-dimensional thermomechanical loading during cubic-tetragonal and tetragonal-orthorhombic phase transformations.     

Moving inelastic discontinuities and applications to martensitic phase transition

Summary In this work, equations of the kinetics and kinematics are developed for heterogeneous materials containing inelastic discontinuities with moving boundaries. From the derived free energy and the power of external forces one obtains the driving force acting on the moving boundary. Introducing the interface operators and some hypothesis on inelastic fields, one gets the driving force for the formation of an ellipsoidal domain. The theoretical model is illustrated by the derivation of nucleation and growth conditions of a martensitic plate inside an inhomogeneous plastic strain field. The obtained results are combined with a study of the kinetics and kinematics to derive the constitutive equation of an austenitic single crystal, from which the overall behavior of polycrystalline TRIP steels is deduced using the self-consistent scale-transition method. Comparison with experimental data shows a good agreement. Received 7 May 1999; accepted for publication 14 June 1999     

J-integral and crack driving force in elastic–plastic materials

This paper discusses the crack driving force in elastic–plastic materials, with particular emphasis on incremental plasticity. Using the configurational forces approach we identify a “plasticity influence term” that describes crack tip shielding or anti-shielding due to plastic deformation in the body. Standard constitutive models for finite strain as well as small strain incremental plasticity are used to obtain explicit expressions for the plasticity influence term in a two-dimensional setting. The total dissipation in the body is related to the near-tip and far-field J-integrals and the plasticity influence term. In the special case of deformation plasticity the plasticity influence term vanishes identically whereas for rigid plasticity and elastic-ideal plasticity the crack driving force vanishes. For steady state crack growth in incremental elastic–plastic materials, the plasticity influence term is equal to the negative of the plastic work per unit crack extension and the total dissipation in the body due to crack propagation and plastic deformation is determined by the far-field J-integral. For non-steady state crack growth, the plasticity influence term can be evaluated by post-processing after a conventional finite element stress analysis. Theory and computations are applied to a stationary crack in a C(T)-specimen to examine the effects of contained, uncontained and general yielding. A novel method is proposed for evaluating J-integrals under incremental plasticity conditions through the configurational body force. The incremental plasticity near-tip and far-field J-integrals are compared to conventional deformational plasticity and experimental J-integrals.     

A unified treatment of strain gradient plasticity

A theoretical framework is presented that has potential to cover a large range of strain gradient plasticity effects in isotropic materials. Both incremental plasticity and viscoplasticity models are presented. Many of the alternative models that have been presented in the literature are included as special cases. Based on the expression for plastic dissipation, it is in accordance with Gurtin (J. Mech. Phys. Solids 48 (2000) 989; Int. J. Plast. 19 (2003) 47) argued that the plastic flow direction is governed by a microstress q_ij and not the deviatoric Cauchy stress σ_ij′ that has been assumed by many others. The structure of the governing equations is of second order in the displacements and the plastic strains which makes it comparatively easy to implement in a finite element programme. In addition, a framework for the formulation of consistent boundary conditions is presented. It is shown that there is a close connection between surface energy of an interface and boundary conditions in terms of plastic strains and moment stresses. This should make it possible to study boundary layer effects at the interface between grains or phases. Consistent boundary conditions for an expanding elastic-plastic boundary are as well formulated. As examples, biaxial tension of a thin film on a thick substrate, torsion of a thin wire and a spherical void under remote hydrostatic tension are investigated.     

Large deformation plasticity and the Poynting effect

The aims of this paper are fourfold: (1) To develop a set of constitutive equations that are applicable to isotropic inelastic materials with large elastic and plastic strains using the multiconfigurational framework (Rajagopal, K.R., Srinivasa, A.R. Int. J. Plasticity 14 (1998) 945; Rajagopal, K.R., Srinivasa, A.R. Int. J. Plasticity 14 (1998), 948), in such a way as to generalize the central ideas (such as isotropy, constant elastic modulii, quadratic yield surfaces and non-hardening behavior) of the Prandtl–Reuss theory to finite deformations, (2) to examine the consequences of using a physically plausible criterion of maximum rate of mechanical dissipation, (3) to examine the relationship of the resulting models to the classical Prandtl–Reuss theory as well as other possible formulations (specifically those that rely on the use of a maximum plastic work postulate), and (4) to consider the effect of finite elastic strains on the response of the material subject to some simple homogenous deformations. By considering the response under simple shear, it is shown that the elastic-plastic counterpart of the well known Poynting effect in finite elasticity has a profound influence on the post-yield behavior of such materials. In particular, it is shown that this gives rise to a strain softening effect even though the overall response is that of a non-hardening material.     

On internal dissipation inequalities and finite strain inelastic constitutive laws: Theoretical and numerical comparisons

Internal dissipation always occurs in irreversible inelastic deformation processes of materials. The internal dissipation inequalities (specific mathematical forms of the second law of thermodynamics) determine the evolution direction of inelastic processes. Based on different internal dissipation inequalities several finite strain inelastic constitutive laws have been formulated for instance by Simo [Simo, J.C., 1992. Algorithms for static and dynamic multiplicative plasticity that preserve the classical return mapping schemes of the infinitesimal theory. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 99, 61–112]; Simo and Miehe [Simo, J.C., Miehe, C., 1992. Associative coupled thermoplasticity at finite strains: formulation, numerical analysis and implementation. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 98, 41–104]; Lion [Lion, A., 1997. A physically based method to represent the thermo-mechanical behavior of elastomers. Acta Mechanica 123, 1–25]; Reese and Govindjee [Reese, S., Govindjee, S., 1998. A theory of finite viscoelasticity and numerical aspects. International Journal of Solids and Structures 35, 3455–3482]; Lin and Schomburg [Lin, R.C., Schomburg, U., 2003. A finite elastic–viscoelastic–elastoplastic material law with damage: theoretical and numerical aspects. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 192, 1591–1627]; Lin and Brocks [Lin, R.C., Brocks, W., 2004. On a finite strain viscoplastic theory based on a new internal dissipation inequality. International Journal of Plasticity 20, 1281–1311]; and Lin and Brocks [Lin, R.C., Brocks, W., 2005. An extended Chaboche’s viscoplastic law at finite strains: theoretical and numerical aspects. Journal of Materials Science and Technology 21, 145–147]. These constitutive laws are consistent with the second law of thermodynamics. As the internal dissipation inequalities are described in different configurations or coordinate systems, the related constitutive laws are also formulated in the corresponding configurations or coordinate systems. Mathematically, these constitutive laws have very different formulations. Now, a question is whether the constitutive laws provide identical constitutive responses for the same inelastic constitutive problems. In the present work, four types of finite strain viscoelastic and endochronically plastic laws as well as three types of J₂-plasticity laws are formulated based on four types of dissipation inequalities. Then, they are numerically compared for several problems of homogeneous or complex finite deformations. It is demonstrated that for the same inelastic constitutive problem the stress responses are identical for deformation processes without rotations. In the simple shear deformation process with large rotation, the presented viscoelastic and endochronically plastic laws also show almost identical stress responses up to a shear strain of about 100%. The three laws of J₂-plasticity also produce the same shear stresses up to a shear strain of 100%, while different normal stresses are generated even at infinitesimal shear strains. The three J₂-plasticity laws are also compared at three complex finite deformation processes: billet upsetting, cylinder necking and channel forming. For the first two deformation processes similar constitutive responses are obtained, whereas for the third deformation process (with large global rotations) significant differences of constitutive responses can be observed.     

Interpretation of the behavior of metals under large plastic shear deformations: comparison of macroscopic predictions to physically based predictions

A large plastic shear problem is analyzed by application of a macroscopic anisotropic plasticity model (Kuroda, M., 1997. Interpretation of the behavior of metals under large plastic shear deformations: a macroscopic approach. Int. J. Plasticity 13, 359–383), and the results are compared to predictions based on crystal plasticity with the Taylor assumption. It is found that these two different-scale models provide very similar predictions. The interpretations for such similarities are pursued in detail. The present macroscopic model reproduces quite well the change in orientation of anisotropy, which is directly predicted in the crystal plasticity analyses as a macroscopic manifestation of texture development. Consequently, the predictions for the rotation of the yield surface by the different-scale models become very similar. It is clearly shown that, in a macroscopic sense, the rotation of the anisotropic yield surface is a main cause of the axial effects in large plastic shear deformation.     

On the modelling of anisotropic elastic and inelastic material behaviour at large deformation

The purpose of this work is the formulation and discussion of an approach to the modelling of anisotropic elastic and inelastic material behaviour at large deformation. This is done in the framework of a thermodynamic, internal-variable-based formulation for such a behaviour. In particular, the formulation pursued here is based on a model for plastic or inelastic deformation as a transformation of local reference configuration for each material element. This represents a slight generalization of its modelling as an elastic material isomorphism pursued in earlier work, allowing one in particular to incorporate the effects of isotropic continuum damage directly into the formulation. As for the remaining deformation- and stress-like internal variables of the formulation, these are modelled in a fashion formally analogous to so-called structure tensors. On this basis, it is shown in particular that, while neither the Mandel nor back stress is generally so, the stress measure thermodynamically conjugate to the plastic “velocity gradient”, containing the difference of these two stress measures, is always symmetric with respect to the Euclidean metric, i.e., even in the case of classical or induced anisotropic elastic or inelastic material behaviour. Further, in the context of the assumption that the intermediate configuration is materially uniform, it is shown that the stress measure thermodynamically conjugate to the plastic velocity gradient is directly related to the Eshelby stress. Finally, the approach is applied to the formulation of metal plasticity with isotropic kinematic hardening.     

Mixed-mode interface toughness of wafer-level Cu-Cu bonds using asymmetric chevron test

Characterization of interfacial adhesion is critical for the development of wafer bonding processes to manufacture microsystems with high yield and reliability. It is imperative that the test method used in such adhesion studies corresponds to the loading conditions present during processing and operation of the devices. In most applications in which wafers and die are bonded, the interface experiences a combination of shear and normal loading (i.e. mixed-mode loading) with the relative magnitude of the Mode I and II components varying in different scenarios. In the current work, the toughness of Cu-Cu thermocompression bonds, which are of interest for the fabrication of three-dimensional integrated circuits, is analyzed using a bonded chevron specimen with layers of different thickness that allows for the application of interfacial loading with variable mode mixity. The phase angle (a function of the degree of mode mixity at the interface) is varied from 0° to 24° by changing the layer thickness ratio from 1 to 0.48. The Cu-Cu bond toughness increases from 2.68 to 10.1 J/m², as the loading is changed from Mode I (pure tension) to a loading with a phase angle of 24°. The energy of plastic dissipation increases with increasing mode mixity, resulting in the enhanced interface toughness. The Mode I toughness of Cu-Cu bonds is minimally affected by plasticity, and therefore, provides the closest estimate of the interfacial work of fracture under the bonding conditions employed.     

A micromechanical model of phase boundary movement during solid–solid phase transformations

Summary  Understanding the kinetics of phase boundary movement is of major concern in e.g. martensitic transformation in related engineering applications. The main goal of this paper is to develop such kinetics on the basis of thermodynamic principles at the material microlevel. After a short literature survey in the introduction, the jump condition and thermodynamic force on the interface are discussed based on laws of conservation and thermodynamics. This leads to a relation for the driving force of the transformation front. In particular, the propagating front of a phase-transforming sphere within an elastic-plastic medium is considered. Due to density change, which is implicitly expressed in the transformation volume strain, strains and accompanying stresses are induced which hamper the propagation and influence the transformation kinetics. Together with the latent heat, the heat due to plastic dissipation occurs as a source term in the heat conduction equation. Since kinetics are influenced by temperature, the heat conduction equation and the kinetics equation are coupled. Using Green's function techniques, an integral equation is derived and solved numerically. The results of a parameter study are discussed. Received 10 February 2000; accepted for publication 18 October 2000     

A material force method for inelastic fracture mechanics

A material force method is proposed for evaluating the energy release rate and work rate of dissipation for fracture in inelastic materials. The inelastic material response is characterized by an internal variable model with an explicitly defined free energy density and dissipation potential. Expressions for the global material and dissipation forces are obtained from a global balance of energy-momentum that incorporates dissipation from inelastic material behavior. It is shown that in the special case of steady-state growth, the global dissipation force equals the work rate of dissipation, and the global material force and J-integral methods are equivalent. For implementation in finite element computations, an equivalent domain expression of the global material force is developed from the weak form of the energy-momentum balance. The method is applied to model problems of cohesive fracture in a remote K-field for viscoelasticity and elastoplasticity. The viscoelastic problem is used to compare various element discretizations in combination with different schemes for computing strain gradients. For the elastoplastic problem, the effects of cohesive and bulk properties on the plastic dissipation are examined using calculations of the global dissipation force.     

Relationship between plastic and intrinsic dissipations

In this paper, the relationship between the plastic and intrinsic dissipations is addressed within the normality structure of [Rice, J.R., 1971. Inelastic constitutive relations for solids: an integral variable theory and its application to metal plasticity. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 19, 433–455; Rice, J.R., 1975. Continuum mechanics and thermodynamics of plasticity in relation to microscale deformation mechanisms. In: Argon, A.S. (Ed.), Constitutive Equations in Plasticity. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, pp. 23–79.] It is shown that the plastic dissipation is generally not equal to the intrinsic dissipation. Within the normality structure, the microscale and macroscale thermodynamic fluxes and forces are related by the conditions of energy and dissipation equivalence. If the plastic dissipation is required to be equal to the intrinsic dissipation, J₂ potential and the Levy–Mises equation are recovered from the condition of dissipation equivalence for incompressible plastic flows.     

Breakage mechanics—Part II: Modelling granular materials

The compression of granular materials has been traditionally modelled with the limitations of classical elasto-plasticity. The energy was implicitly assumed to dissipate from the frictional interaction of particles. However, the fact that brittle granular materials crush suggests that energy must also be dissipated from the fracturing of the grains, as in fracture mechanics. The concept of breakage as a thermomechanical internal variable was introduced in Part I [Einav, I., 2006. Breakage mechanics—Part I: theory. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 00,000-000] to describe the fracturing mechanisms. The theory allows to treat ideal theoretical materials that undergo dissipation purely from breakage with no other mechanism allowed for the energy consumption. However, as accounted for in elasto-plasticity, dissipation must also occur from the frictional rearrangement of grains. The combination of the two dissipative mechanisms of breakage and plasticity must therefore be investigated, as we do in this paper. Those two mechanisms are generally coupled, in the sense that one inevitably appears when the other develops. Plastic dissipation emerges as a by-product of breakage dissipation because after grains crush, local rearrangement must occur. This scenario may be termed an ‘active breakage mechanism’, and typifies compression deformations. In shear the plastic dissipation is dominant but breakage appears inevitably from grains abrasion. This scenario may be called a ‘passive breakage mechanism’. Based on the coupling assumption, models are developed for granular materials. In particular, we show that in compression isotropic hardening of sands may appear without involving plastic strains, i.e., independent of frictional dissipation. This interpretation of hardening is different from the one used in classical critical state soil mechanics. However, frictional dissipation leads to plastic straining that are necessary for the models to be predictive in unloading.     

Wedge corner stress behaviour of bonded dissimilar materials

A contour integral, based on Betti’s reciprocal theorem, is used in conjunction with the finite element method to evaluate the magnitude of the wedge corner stress intensities associated with the higher order terms of the singular stress field near the interface corner of a bi-material joint. It is shown that using a different auxiliary field can eliminate the dependence of the wedge corner stress intensity on the integration path observed by [W.C. Carpenter, Int. J. Fracture 73 (1995) 93–108]. Finite element analysis of a typical joint geometry is used to demonstrate the path-independence of the magnitude of the stress intensities evaluated using the proposed method, and to show the effects of higher order terms on the stress state near the interface corner.     

Delamination of an elastic film from an elastic–plastic substrate during adhesive contact loading and unloading

Adhesive contact between a rigid sphere and an elastic film on an elastic–perfectly plastic substrate was examined in the context of finite element simulation results. Surface adhesion was modeled by nonlinear springs obeying a force-displacement relationship governed by the Lennard–Jones potential. A bilinear cohesive zone law with prescribed cohesive strength and work of adhesion was used to simulate crack initiation and growth at the film/substrate interface. It is shown that the unloading response consists of five sequential stages: elastic recovery, interface damage (crack) initiation, damage evolution (delamination), film elastic bending, and abrupt surface separation (jump-out), with plastic deformation in the substrate occurring only during damage initiation. Substrate plasticity produces partial closure of the cohesive zone upon full unloading (jump-out), residual tensile stresses at the front of the crack tip, and irreversible downward bending of the elastic film. Finite element simulations illustrate the effects of minimum surface separation (i.e., maximum compressive surface force), work of adhesion and cohesive strength of the film/substrate interface, substrate yield strength, and initial crack size on the evolution of the surface force, residual deflection of the elastic film, film-substrate separation (debonding), crack-tip opening displacement, and contact instabilities (jump-in and jump-out) during a full load–unload cycle. The results of this study provide insight into the interdependence of contact instabilities and interfacial damage (cracking) encountered in layered media during adhesive contact loading and unloading.     

A comparison between crystal and isotropic strain gradient plasticity theories with accent on the role of the plastic spin

In the small deformation range, we consider crystal and isotropic “higher-order” theories of strain gradient plasticity, in which two different types of size effects are accounted for: (i) that dissipative, entering the model through the definition of an effective measure of plastic deformation peculiar of the isotropic hardening function and (ii) that energetic, included by defining the defect energy (i.e., a function of Nye's dislocation density tensor added to the free energy; see, e.g., [Gurtin, M.E., 2002. A gradient theory of single-crystal viscoplasticity that accounts for geometrically necessary dislocations. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 50, 5–32]). In order to compare the two modellings, we recast both of them into a unified deformation theory framework and apply them to a simple boundary value problem for which we can exploit the Γ-convergence results of [Bardella, L., Giacomini, A., 2008. Influence of material parameters and crystallography on the size effects describable by means of strain gradient plasticity. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 56 (9), 2906–2934], in which the crystal model is made isotropic by imposing that any direction be a possible slip system. We show that the isotropic modelling can satisfactorily approximate the behaviour described by the isotropic limit obtained from the crystal modelling if the former constitutively involves the plastic spin, as in the theory put forward in Section 12 of [Gurtin, M.E., 2004. A gradient theory of small-deformation isotropic plasticity that accounts for the Burgers vector and for dissipation due to plastic spin. J. Mech. Phys. Solids 52, 2545–2568]. The analysis suggests a criterium for choosing the material parameter governing the plastic spin dependence into the relevant Gurtin model.     

Modelling the torsion of thin metal wires by distortion gradient plasticity

Under small strains and rotations, we apply a phenomenological higher-order theory of distortion gradient plasticity to the torsion problem, here assumed as a paradigmatic benchmark of small-scale plasticity. Peculiar of the studied theory, proposed about ten years ago by Morton E. Gurtin, is the constitutive inclusion of the plastic spin, affecting both the free energy and the dissipation. In particular, the part of the free energy, called the defect energy, which accounts for Geometrically Necessary Dislocations, is a function of Nye's dislocation density tensor, dependent on the plastic distortion, including the plastic spin. For the specific torsion problem, we implement this distortion gradient plasticity theory into a Finite Element (FE) code characterised by implicit (Backward Euler) time integration, numerically robust and accurate for both viscoplastic and rate-independent material responses. We show that, contrariwise to other higher-order theories of strain gradient plasticity (neglecting the plastic spin), the distortion gradient plasticity can predict some strengthening even if a quadratic defect energy is chosen. On the basis of the results of many FE analyses, concerned with (i) cyclic loading, (ii) switch in the higher-order boundary conditions during monotonic plastic loading, (iii) the use of non-quadratic defect energies, and (iv) the prediction of experimental data, we mainly show that (a) including the plastic spin contribution in a gradient plasticity theory is highly recommendable to model small-scale plasticity, (b) less-than-quadratic defect energies may help in describing the experimental results, but they may lead to anomalous cyclic behaviour, and (c) dissipative (unrecoverable) higher-order finite stresses are responsible for an unexpected mechanical response under non-proportional loading.     

A cyclic anisotropic-plasticity model for metal matrix composites

Based on a six parameter general anisotropic yield surface proposed earlier by Voyiadjis and Thiagarajan (An Anisotropic Yield Surface Model for Directionally Reinforced Metal Matrix Composites, Int. J. Plasticity [1995]), a cyclic plasticity model to model the behavior of directionally reinforced metal matrix composite, has been proposed here. Apart from being able to model different initial yielding behavior along different stress directions, a number of features have been incorporated into the plasticity model. They include the usage of a proposed non-associative flow rule, kinematic hardening rule of Phillips type, a modified form of the bounding surface model for modelling the cyclic behavior, and the usage of a proposed form for evaluating the plastic modulus for anisotropic materials. Previous experimental data have been used for the evaluation of the yield surface parameters as well as those for the determination of the plastic modulus. The stress-strain results generated from the model have then been compared with those from the experiments. The behavior of the model under certain simulated cyclic loading situations has also been presented.